If Cowboys want to lock up Tony Romo, they will have to pay him $60 million over 3 years

Dallas Morning News | Mar 18

On why the Cowboys haven’t extended Tony Romo yet:“The problem with Tony Romo is this. His cap number is $16.8 million. The only way you can reduce that is by extending the contract, but here is the problem. Next year, if he becomes a franchise quarterback if they use the franchise tag, they will have to tender him a 1-year deal in the amount of $21.6 million. If you’re the agent for Tony Romo, you say ok we’ll do a long-term deal, but we have to use these numbers. $16.8 million this year, $20.16 million next year and then the following year it goes up another 20 percent to $24 or 25 million. You’re looking at at least $60 million over three years if they want to lock Tony Romo up. That’s the dance that’s going on between the Cowboys and Tony Romo. If Romo is willing to keep the risk of injury, if he’s willing to roll the dice and go through this year and see what happens, the Cowboys could be backed into a corner next year.”On why the Cowboys haven’t made moves in free agency:“The problem is you can’t do anything without creating cap space, and you’re not going to create cap space without cutting guys unless you extend Anthony Spencer’s deal. Now the problem is moving to the 4-3. His agent Jordan Woy is going to be saying you need to be paying him more like a 4-3 defensive not a 3-4 outside linebacker because a 4-3 defensive end makes more money.”